Sam Hunt Sophomore Album Update: Expect a Few Singles Before Its Release

Sam Hunt's hard at work on his sophomore album, and although a release date has yet to be announced, fans can expect to hear more songs from the country star before the record itself drops. Shortly before he released his newest single, "Body Like a Back Road," Hunt said that he "[doesn't] want to sit on [songs] for as long as it takes me to finish a record" and would "try to put them out as I write them and finish them," and Hunt and his team have expanded on that idea in a new story by Billboard.

According to Universal Music Group Nashville president Cindy Mabe, Hunt is "more than midway through" his next project, and there is a timetable in place for the release of Hunt's highly anticipated sophomore album; however, she adds, "if [Hunt] tells me, 'I'm not ready for that date,' then we’ll move it back." In the meantime, fans will get to hear new singles "every few months until the album is ready," says Hunt's manager, Brad Belanger.

"There's a good chance we'll have three or four songs out by the time we get the record finished," Belanger says. "This allows us to maintain the momentum and creative pace of Sam's career while alleviating any outside pressure to deliver the album."

New Albums Coming in 2017

For his part, Hunt explains that "putting out music as it's made, versus holding it until an album's finished, allows me to be more timely and maintain balance." Keith Urban did something similar with his most recent album, Ripcord, releasing three singles from the record before releasing the album itself.

"[Urban was] working toward something, but saying, 'I've got touring ahead, and I want to come back out and start to feed the base before that, but I’m not ready to tell you that I’m finished with my album,'" Mabe says. "Both Keith and Sam are perfectionists, and you cannot pry it out of their hands until they feel like the art is really ready to be heard, and even then it’s probably somewhat prying. Until then, we just keep feeding the fans a little at a time so that they’re on the ride with us."